01 June, 2012

Some fascinating bikes visit our little showroom. One of our customers just found this Peugeot bike on Craig's List and brought it by yesterday; she needed some new 650b rims. It's a late '50s PX50, probably 1959 (from the serial number). I wrote about this model in 2006, which I called "A Randoneusse for the Common Jacques".

Even in the glory days of French cycling, not everyone could afford a Singer or a Herse. So what was the French lunch-box-kind-of-guy to do when he wanted a randonneusse. One option was to get a Peugeot PX50, a production randonneur bike... It's just the thing for a rough French country road. The front rack is perfect for a handlebar bag and the rear would take small panniers. Also note the Cibie lighting system and the cool brake levers.
I see that the first catalog to list this model is the 1953 edition. It seems to have disappeared sometime between 1963 and 1969. Apparently not many made it to North America, but they were sold in Japan. The photo [below] and information is taken from Cycles Retro Peugeot , a wonderful collection of Peugeot catalogs from 1929 to 1989.

Here a brochure photo of a similar model. Note the Mafac cantis, guidonet levers, and lever-shift front derailleur.

It's really great to find original condition bikes like this. This particular PX50 has wonderful patina, which I would want to preserve. The spokes are shot and it has steel rims. I'd either rebuild the wheels or simply get a second set for riding and keep the originals for display. The freewheel is a 4-speed, and almost certainly French thread, which might be hard to replace. The Henri Gauthier saddle is rotten around the rivets, but these show up on E-bay. Or one could replace it with an Ideale saddle. Otherwise I'd replace the cables and brake pads and do a little polishing with Simichrome to remove the rust and protect the remaining chrome. Everything on the bike works except for the lighting, but the original dynamo came with it

The new owner is very knowledgeable and I'm sure she'll have her new PX50 in fine shape and on the road soon.

I have a PX 50 and am in need of a front hub. Ideally NOS? Any recommendations? I don't know my way around the world of vintage French bicycle components. It would be great if velo orange were to sell a nutted axle front hub for old bikes. I don't know if any makes a new nutted axle hub that has an axle narrow enough.